gelxgel

Friday Night Lights, Season 3

2008-07-21T10:32:08Z

So apparently it will be airing on DirecTV in October, and then on NBC in February. Zach Gilford's (Matt's) suggestion for fans? Just download it [illegally]...But then it would be in good conscience to watch it on NBC when it airs there." This he says during an NBC panel. ~_~ Oh, Matt. I like how I don't really distinguish between the characters and the actors.

I've also heard some spoilers for season 3

They leave me kinda bummed. First off, no/less Jason and Smash? They had the two most interesting storylines at the end of Season 2! I think Jason had the only abortion storyline that I have ever liked on TV, if only because I really did get the feeling that these were the decisions being made and struggles being had by individuals, not characters turned into talking heads by the writers like 'this is the pro-life side, this is the pro-choice side'. The sides were there, but I felt like it was because that was what those characters were feeling, not because anyone had an agenda or wanted to discuss a political issue. If they fastforward eight months, the baby will be practically (or even actually; I don't remember how far along she was) born, or else not. I'm kind of picturing a throwaway 'yeah, that didn't work out - she aborted and left' or 'yeah, they had a baby and now Jason has moved to city X to take care of them!' Which., lame. Plus Jason is my favorite character, and in many ways (I think) the heart of the show; I don't like thinking of it without him. I read that it's budgetary, which I understand, but I'm still sad.

Plus - Smash! His entire life has been turned upside down. He's going to a small college instead of a big football power, he's going to the historically black university, he's going to learn things and find himself in an entirely new situation and hopefully evolve...and we don't get to see it. I feel so cheated! I understand that, again, budgetary reasons, and the show centers around Dillon, but I was still so hoping we'd get to see what goes on with Smash. (Plus, whatever happened to Waverly? Come on, show, at least give us a throwaway line).

And apparently now Lyla is done with her born-again phase and her relationship with Tim is out in the open (as per Minka Kelly). I really hope all that didn't happen during the break. I mean, when we left off I felt like she and ex-GG-Logan were doing so well. And I had gotten around to accepting and liking born-again-Lyla, and seeing her as a person who really wants to change her life because she's made some mistakes, and wants to do something about that. And she's pretty self-righteous, but again, teenager. I really enjoyed the evolution of her character. Plus, maybe I interpreted it wrong, but when she was with GG-Logan's family she was talking about college plans, and they were encouraging her, and I was excited because Lyla never did that before. Before it was all 'I will go wherever Jason needs me.' And it's so exciting to see her planning a future for herself (I might be remembering it wrong, but I don't *think* she was talking about the college GG-Logan was intending to go to). I think that college would be really good for Lyla. And I don't know how they're going to show her giving up all that to start dating Tim without it being a huge backslide. I mean, do you think Tim is going to be all 'college yay'? I like the guy, but come on. But maybe that's what they're intending to do. I don't know. I'm still excited for a third season anyway - a third season without my favorite is better than no third season at all.

ETA: Plus no Santiago!? God, that sucks, he was my favorite part of last season. I just have to keep telling myself; any season is better than no season. *sigh*

Twilight...

2008-07-12T13:26:03Z

I generally stay out of the Twilight Buzz. I mean, I read the first book awhile ago, and really didn't care for it but didn't want to hurt the feelings of those that do. So I generally avoided the Twilight-mania except for to laugh at the odd post making jokes about it. And then I ran into this, the cover of EW, featuring Edward and Bella from the upcoming movie. Is that really what it's going to be like? Because that's hilariously awful.

I thought they were going the 'vampires are preternaturally hot' route, not the 'hey, if you never go out in the sun and live off of animal blood you will probably look like a cadaver' route. But hey, whatever floats your boat.

I love tennis

2008-07-06T21:39:17Z

So, wow. I intended to keep this LJ mainly TV-centric, but what the hell. The real TV event for me the past two weeks has been Wimbledon, and today's final was absolutely out of this world good. I am incoherent about how good it was. I am so happy I bailed on going to a movie and decided to see it. So effing good.

awful is the new wonderful

2008-07-02T03:07:00Z

OK, so I don't know what possessed me, but I watched the first episode of The Secret Life of the American Teenager (or something like that), the new show by the makers of Seventh Heaven, the show that would not die. Actually, I do know what possessed me: a) I was bored, b) I like Molly Ringwald, and she plays the mom, and c) I did not know until the end that the woman who made Seventh Heaven made this crap too. Although I really should have guessed. It was terrible in that cracktastic way that the few Seventh Heaven episodes I watched after I hit puberty were (musical! terrible musical!). There will be spoilers, but honestly, there's nothing much to spoil.

I mean, it was basically one of those horrible TV-movies you had to watch in Health Class. For future knowledge, my three favorite awful health class movies are:

3) 'Daddy', in which a smooth-talking high school hunk acoustic guitarist gets his girlfriend pregnant and spends the rest of his life working at an ice cream parlor hating himself for having unprotected sex.

2) 'Secret Between Friends', or as my friends called it, 'Anorexi Lexi', the story of a clique of girls who have various eating disorders. And then have hallucinations about the others of the clique calling them fat.

And drum roll please for # 1....

I don't know the title, alas, but it was a movie about the dangers of drug addiction as told by *cats*. Seriously! Live-action cats walking around 'acting out' the scenes as a narrator voiced over the 'plot'. The cat drank water out of a bowl to represent alcoholism. The cat buried its head in a bunch of flour to represent cocaine abuse. And best of all was the part where the cat 'drinks and drives' by getting in this little plastic toy red sports car, and then veering wildly out of control as it (he? she?) tries to avoid hitting a kitten crossing the street. It then winds up in, honest to god, jail, with hooker-cats. You know they are hooker-cats because they are wearing feather boas and necklaces and posed "sexily" draped over the bars. It was phenomenal. It all ends with the cat going into a 12-step-program, as represented by the cat literally walking up twelve steps.

But I digress. To the horrible TV!

The whole damn show was Life Lesson after unsubtle Life Lesson. The Secret Life of an American Teenager seems to, according to this lady, consist entirely of sex. And OK, I was a teenager not all that long ago (certainly not as long ago as this lady), and sure, everyone's hormonal, but come on. We had lives, and schoolwork, and sports teams, and extracurriculars, and friends we weren't trying to have sex with. But hey, maybe I'm remembering it wrong. And, after all, my school didn't have a marching band, which is apparently the main hotbed of youthful lust. Seriously! For instance, the pregnant teen who is the whole point of this show? French horn player! She had the evil pregnancy-making sex at band camp (I swear to god). With the drummer in the marching band, who is the requisite callous playboy. Because nothing makes high school panties drop faster than the drummer in the marching band. Oh, and when Evil Drummer and Sweet Nerdy Guy Who Likes Pregnant Chick (and is actually *really* annoying, but that wasn't intentional) get into the inevitable dick measuring contest, the Evil Drummer's great put-down is 'you have no rhythm'. Oh damn! How will he ever recover! But, you see, the Evil Drummer is not just evil! Oh no! He has unsafe and indiscriminate sex with every girl he meets because his father sexually abused him when he was a child. We learn this watching his therapy session, complete with sad-tinkly music.

We round out the Slutty Marching Band with the marjorette (I have no idea if that's how you spell that; the chick that walks in front and twirls a baton), the inevitable high school tramp. She spends the first episode enticing Molestation-Victim-Turn-Nympho-Drummer, and then seduces the high school quarterback away from his super-Christian cheerleader girlfriend. See, super-Christian cheerleader girlfriend has just gotten a purity ring, and informed the quarterback that she is waiting until they get married. When his suave 'well, I totally intend to marry you, so can we have oral sex?' salvo is shot down, he turns to the Band Slut who is all too willing to cheat with him, complete with ridiculous slutty-apple-eating. Afterwards, the Christian QB feels terrible and begs Band Slut to pray with him (seriously), and she's all 'how about we have some more sex instead?' And thus they continue to hurt poor, innocent Christian Cheerleader. She is, of course, super-pure, super-perky, super-blonde, and is never even slightly embarrassed of or frustrated with her mentally challenged brother. It is that brother who brings the horrible teenaged adultery of Christian QB and Band Slut to the attention of the whole school by catching them and starting to cry out incoherently (this, of course, causes the entire high school dance to run outside and catch the adulterers In The Act). Molestation Victim Drummer has his sights set on Christian Cheerleader; what do you want to bet that she reforms him, and makes him a Good Man with the power of her love (and Jesus)?

I think my favorite part was after Pregnant Chick breaks the news to her best friends (token fat girl (you know, TV-fat, not real-fat) and token black girl, whose only other distinguishing characteristics seem to be that black girl is pro-choice and fat girl is pro-life), in the *middle of a crowded high school hallway*, because that's something any teenager would ever do. See, after the token friends discover that Sweet Nerdy Guy likes Pregnant Chick, they come up with a brilliant plan! Pregnant Chick will seduce Sweet Nerdy Guy into sleeping with her, tell him she's pregnant, and then he will have to marry her and everything will be okay! And the icing on the cake? They checked it out, and his family is totally loaded! I was absolutely cracking up at this point. And then she seems to go with it! I mean, it will never happen, but how much more hilarious would this show be if it did?

Oh, and the way Sweet Nerdy Guy decides he likes Pregnant Chick? He is scoping out Christian Cheerleader with his Asian Friends, and lamenting how he will never ever ever have sex. Asian Girl rattles of statistics about how many high schoolers are sexually active (because Asians are good at math!), and then suggests that Pregnant Chick might be willing to have sex with him. This is, indeed, how true love stories are born.

Anyway, only my boredom levels will determine if I watch again. But my god, the hilarious awfulness was so bad I just had to share.

gelxgel @ 2008-06-19T18:13:00

2008-06-19T22:16:26Z

OK so I'm reading Cotillion by Georgette Heyer. It's very fun and entertaining romance, but sometimes I run across a line and think '...I have no idea what that means.' Example:
"You have not yet answered my question!" interrupted Hugh. "What has brought you here?"
"Hired chaise," said Freddy. "Thought of driving myself down, but too far for the tits. Bad weather too."

Obviously it's not the modern usage, but what on earth are they trying to say? It drives me nuts.

zomg UNICORN!

2008-06-12T00:44:10Z

OK, so you may or may not know this, but I love unicorns. When I was little I practically had a herd of stuffed unicorns that were all named 'Uni'. This somehow did not get confusing. So when I stumbled across this story of a an actual sort-of-unicorn I pretty much squealed like a little girl and decided it was worth deviating from the TV-only rule for this LJ. I mean, it's summer hiatus, what else am I going to talk about but awesome genetically defective deer in Italy?

http://jezebel.com/5015545/the-first-unicorn

So it doesn't have a snowy white pelt and wings. Whatever, close enough!

Gossip Girl and Greek

2008-05-21T20:43:33Z

So I watched the finale of Gossip Girl. I was determined to enjoy it. So, I will get my bitchery out of the way in the first paragraph and then concentrate on squee, no matter what.

Complaining: So Blair and Chuck are up all night in full-on schemer mode, and the brilliant plan they finally come up with is...tell Georgina's parents? Seriously? *headdesk* You can do better, guys. And what was Serena wearing? I am no fashion-maven, but her outfit was really...weird. And they just broke up Nate/Vanessa. Like, everything that has ever happened between these two has happened offscreen! But whatever, onto the squee.

Chuck and Blair were adorable waking up together. And, even if there wasn't some Blair-vengeance, Chuck did at least apologize. And she strangled him with his bowtie; that's always fun. And the Chuck/Blair happy couple stuff was really sweet while it lasted. At first I was annoyed that Chuck couldn't seem to go a day without cheating, but in retrospect, well, that's Chuck Bass. It wouldn't be him to flip a switch and turn into a non-judgmental version of Dan. Plus, Chuck nearly choking on the thought of *feelings* and *thinking of others* was hilarious, as was the inevitable "I'm Chuck Bass." And maybe *now* Blair will rain down fire and vengeance from above (or whatever). Oh, and! Chuck telling Nate he loved Blair was made of win; I totally squeed.

I actually really liked the Lily/Bart scene. I think I really like Bart; he's a realist in the worst kind of way. Of course my fiance will sleep with her old flame the night before our wedding; of course the only way to keep my son from being an ass is to bribe him. Although he also seems to believe in the magical transformative powers of girlfriend-Blair. Either way I like him. Also, this makes me a geek to the nth degree, but I *totally* would see Lincoln Hawk on tour. They amuse me too much.

Serena and Dan's break up...on the one hand, Serena needs to man up and take control of something; after this big breakthrough of 'it's not my fault the skeeve died, and I can tell people and stop Georgina from pushing me around!' it almost immediately reverts to Serena biting back her sadness to be all 'I will totally pretend you never did anything with Georgina and cling cling cling to a relationship with a guy who I am afraid to let see me as myself, and just keep on closing my eyes and apologizing and everything will come round right.' But actually, I can kind of deal with that; I think it might fit her characterization. And I actually thought the scene with them dancing was nice; sort of like they knew it was over, and it had to be over, but they just didn't want to accept that. I also think/hope it sets up for a nice Serena-having-agency arc next season (hopefully).

Also, I loved the Chuck-Nate reconciliation, and Nate punching his father was made of win. I love my Josh Schwartz fistfights.

After Gossip Girl, I actually watched last week's episode of Greek, and man, this show is *so good*! I cannot even believe how much I love it! I bought the first season DVD. It's great; do not scoff at it being on the Family Channel! It's about a bunch of students in frats/sororities in a fictional college in Ohio (but it's filmed in California, so it leaves me like 'yeah, I grew up in Ohio; it totally is not light-jacket-weather in December'). Now, I have never been in a sorority; my mother was in one, and I made a conscious decision to go to a college with no greek life because I didn't want to deal with my mom pushing me into pledging. So I'm coming at this from a Greek-apathetic, if not anti-Greek, attitude. And I still love it; the characters are fun and funny (even the background characters; I want to marry Beaver). I have found myself actually switching sides in the big Love Triangle, not because the show decided to make one guy an ass and the other a saint, but because both guys are human, and I understand that they both have history and feelings for Casey (the girl in question). Oh, and a lot of people hate Casey at first; I never did, but going on other people's comments, just give her time.Oh, and Rusty, Casey's nerdy little brother who is intent on entering a fraternity, is adorable. And his roommate Dale, the Confederate-flag-hanging Southern Baptist, is a great character in his own right. Watch it! Here! It's all online!
http://abcfamily.go.com/abcfamily/path/section_Shows+Greek/page_Video-Greek_Viewing_Party
And for these past two weeks eps, I'll make a spoiler cut

First off: Beaver and Wade! I love them! I would watch a show just about them; they are so fantastic. Beaver braids hair! And 'I remember you said that because I turned to Wade and said you were a tool'.

I officially like Cappie/Rebecca. I never thought the day would come; I think it was the fact that they roleplay 'lost German tourist' in bed that did it. Like, what on earth would that even entail? Do I really want to know? How the hell do they come up with this stuff? Actually, what probably really did it is them treating each other like adults; you have X problem, I love you anyway, but once and awhile I'm going to tell you when you cross the line.

Calvin is now dating Deputy Leo! So much win! And Calvin's Tyra impression from ANTM was freaking *hilarious*. I also enjoyed Calvin's rant to Ashley about how he doesn't want to watch a gay/lesbian film with Deputy Leo since they're all about some poor farm boy in Idaho cutting himself while listening to Erasure, and then coming out to his preacher dad who beats him and locks him in the basement (paraphrase). Calvin is super awesome. Calvin/Deputy Leo doesn't seem to have much staying power since all they seem to have in common is ANTM and thinking the other is hot, but hey, I'm all for them giving it a go. Especially if Calvin continues to bring the snark and Tyra Banks impressions (even if I had another native Ohioan wtf moment with 'who actually calls the Cavs the Cavaliers?' Oh and also, they way they were setting it up it was like ANTM-loving Calvin is the Real Calvin, while Cavs-loving Calvin is Conforming With The Masses Calvin, when Calvin is a bona fide jock, so isn't Cavs-loving Calvin also Real Calvin? But maybe that's something Deputy Leo will have to learn to deal with). Although I do miss Calvin/Heath.

I have always loved Cappie, but now I also love Evan. To the point that, when he bribes the guy that likes Casey to drop her, I just cracked up and thought 'oh Evan, I love you, you freaking moron.' I'm even more amused than angry at Franny. My love for this show is like blissful euphoria. I know it'll come crashing down soon, but whatever; show love!

And I think my favorite part might be Evan and Cappie's relationship. You know they want to get back together. I'm waiting for them to engage in some more teaming up for the greater good. And maybe it will coincide with Rusty and Calvin making up, so there can be a big lovefest.

The only thing I really want from the show is more for the sorority girls to do. I don't love any of them as much as I do the boys; I think in particular I want Ashley to do something aside from have bad luck in love, and being Calvin's hag and Casey's loyal second-in-command. I want her to do something on her own. Mainly because I think she could be really awesome.

I still love Supernatural like wow

2008-05-16T14:42:02Z

OK, I'm just going to get the things that annoyed me out of the way up front because, overall, I loved the finale. To skip my whining about feminism, skip the next paragraph.

Pretty much the only thing that kept me from squeeing unabashedly was the pain this show is causing my inner-feminist. It's not one thing in particular; it's everything all together. I mean, it felt like this season, all girls sucked. And the big bad is Lilith, which - on one level I'm down, but on another I'm like 'umm, that has become a feminist icon, so if you're going there you should possibly try and be less creepy towards women in general?' But no - Dean keeps on calling Ruby a skank, which bugs me *so much*, because hi, she has done a LOT of shit you can call her on but she has never, as far as I am aware, been skanky; that's just a catchall 'you're a pretty girl, and pretty girls make me feel inadequate or intimidated or *something*, so I hate you' name, and it bugs the hell out of me. And then when Sam is trying to stand by Dean vs Ruby, and finally goes there to call Ruby a bitch, I was like...and now Sam comes properly into the mysoginistic fold. *headdesk* And even little girls are still evil. Plus Ruby, who I think is awesome, is dead (although I hope she finds Dean in hell). Oh and that line where Lilith was inhabiting Ruby, and Dean finally realized it, and said something like 'oh, you all look the same to me' - OK, I know he meant demons, which is fine, but then because it's Ruby and Lilith it also *could* mean 'girls', and that's totally uncool. And I wouldn't even go there if all this other 'skank' 'bitch' shit wasn't rolling around. But whatever - off my chest, onto the squee.

Sam and Dean singing Bon Jovie was made of win. I thought it was hilarious, and then Dean gets that sad look on his face while Sam is still belting it out and having fun, and I felt so bad for him. Good going, show.

Sam is the Antichrist Superstar! Squee! I love demon-king Sam! I totally wanted this to happen since, um, last summer, but I didn't think the show would do it (I have no faith, Kripke, sorry). So I'm excited :-) I didn't expect Dean to actually go to hell, so that's exciting. Now Sam needs to take over all of hell to get him back (hooray Antichrist Superstar Sam! I am going to keep saying that *long* after it ceases to be amusing).
Anyway, I thought it was awesome because it doubles the grief for Sam - not only has he become demonking-Sammy, but he didn't even manage to save Dean in the bargain. Oh, and hooray for Sam's ugly-cry - that was pretty damn good, in my opinion. I was underwhelmed by Sam during the groundhog day ep, but this one really got me.

The blonde little-girl-Lilith was suitably creepy, although I've got to admit, I thought it was pretty dumb that Lilith chooses thirty hours before Dean goes to hell, the very window when the Winchesters, and thus her big enemy Sam, are going to be at their most desperate and dangerous, to go play house. I mean, wait until you've killed Dean and Sam is being all grievey, then have a party.

Oh, and Bobby! 'Family doesn't stop with blood' That kind of made me want to cry. I like Bobby.

And lastly, the girl who plays Ruby did a really good job, I thought - switching from normal-Ruby to Lilith-Ruby and all. Creepy and very good. I hope there's some way for her to come back, but I doubt it.

Oh and one thing about Ugly Betty

Oh Gio, what the heck? I've come around to like you, and then you back to asshole-flirting. Betty needs you to play a long game, remember? And then he'd redeemed himself there at the end, and pulls out the whole 'I don't want to be the rebound guy, I want to be the guy' line and, ok, on one level - aww - but on another level - then you are going about this ALL WRONG. Play it a little cooler, Gio; I know you're not particularly a patient guy, but if you want to be 'the guy' then you've got to let her come to like you on her own, not just spring it on her all 'DATE ME DATE ME DATE ME!'. And the way he's going about it now - "DATE ME! LIKE ME! SURPRISE KISSES!' plus 'no, I won't date you' - is just being an annoying tease *glares*. But whatever; they had some awesome moments at the dance, and I'm interested to see how it turns out.

Also, I love Marc and Amanda so much. More Marc and Amanda forever!

Bones

2008-05-13T18:06:59Z

Since finals are over, apparently I am watching *way* too much TV. Still, I just watched last night's episode of Bones, and it was possibly the most ridiculous thing ever. Even more ridiculous than *last* week, where they tried to convince us that 'pro hac vice' means that someone who has never studied law a day in his life can be temporarily admitted to the bar and try a case as a prosecutor, and I almost died because I was studying Evidence and Lawyer Ethics practically nonstop and it was almost extraordinary how much they got totally, absolutely wrong. I mean, it's only TV and not even a law show, so I shouldn't expect so much, but it was still driving me nuts. Anyway, this week's Bones was also crazy. There are many spoilers beneath the cut. Honestly, it's practically a recap. This was a ridiculous episode.

First off, it was the Singing Episode. Which, since this is FOX, meant it was the American Idol episode. I lost track of the number of AI references - including really stupid ones, because I don't believe for one minute that *Booth* is conversant on Kelly Clarkson's discography, or that he would admit it even if he was. There was also a ridiculous amount of singing; someone over on TWOP said they fast-forwarded through the singing, and the ep was only 20 minutes long. It featured at least two AI former-contestants that I could ID, as well as a Frank Sinatra impersenator. And both Bones *and* Zach sang - Bones at open mike night, and Zach in the middle of studying skelatons in the lab. Like, random much?

The mystery was that Ace Young is a trainer/wannabe singer who is found dead! zomg! Bones and Booth are on the case, and talk to: the guy whose song Ace Young stole! The guy whose money Ace Young stole! The neighbor who reported him missing because Ace Young's alarm clock keeps going off every two minutes and is driving him crazy! The owner of the bar and the fake 'talent scout' he used to entice people to the bar! The angry, biker-looking guy who glares at Ace Young! And, best of all, Fat Pam, the delusional overweight woman who was in love with Ace Young (oh, to get the mystery out of the way - the killer is, improbably, the next door neighbor who needs silence to work on his art, because Ace Young won't stop singing. But now he is tormented by the alarm clock of Ace Young! Because this man, who is willing to kill for some peace and quiet, is NOT willing to break into his neighbor's apt and unplug the damn alarm. Yeahhh).

OK, so 'Fat Pam' was the most ridiculous part of a ridiculous episode. So Pam, she is delusionally in love with Ace Young, and even has a stalker photo album, but she also has an alibi; she was in Florida with her parents planning the fake marriage between Ace Young and herself, because she is *just that crazy*. Oh, and she bitches and calls Bones a stick, which makes Bones defensive, and makes me laugh, because Bones is rarely defensive. Dr Sweets, the kid-psychiatrist who I still love and hope is not gormegon, tells Booth that Pam is delusional, in part because she is fat (I am oversimplifying like crazy - he actually says she isn't fat, but people treat her like she's fat, or something; then he talks about Bones's Issues, and doesn't get back to it, and I don't really care enough to rewind and figure it out). She creates delusional romantic connections between herself and the hot menz by acting vulnerable and giving them things. And then, as Booth is leaving the interrogation room, Pam's face goes all crumply and she's like 'who will love me now???' and Booth sympathetically pats her on the shoulder, and Sweets is like 'NO DON'T TOUCH HER!' from outside the interrogation room, so we know that she has now transferred her psychotic love to Booth.

Sweets tells Booth that Pam is totally dangerous because of her delusions, and Booth laughs because he is arrogant and does not respect Sweets. Then Pam calls Booth all 'I need to see you...alone' and Booth (who is dumb) is like 'is it about Ace Young's murder? Well, Bones should be there...but ok! Whatever you say, dangerous woman!' And then Pam proceeds to get all creepy in Booth's office, like 'I saw that you were wearing funky sucks so I knitted you funky socks and you are JUST LIKE ME, let me stand way too close'. And Booth is all 'um, unprofessional?' and Pam goes 'hahaha you're so funny, wait til I tell my mom you said that!!' And then she is all 'are you dating Bones?' and Booth denies it, she sees a picture of his son and gets all creepily 'ARE YOU MARRIED?' and he denies *that*, even though he should totally have said he was married or gay or a eunich or SOMETHING. Anyway, Pam leaves.

Cut to the last scene of the show, where Bones is up there singing Girls Just Want To Have Fun at open mike night, and Booth is bopping along like a total dork (which is my favorite look on Booth), and of course Pam enters (how did she know they were there? Who knows, presumably her scary stalker powers), and stares at Booth bopping along with Bones, and whispers - seriously - 'don't look at her; look at me'. And then she proceeds to pull out a gun and try to shoot Bones, and Booth of course stands up to take the bullet for her, and Pam starts freaking out, and then Bones PULLS OUT HER OWN GUN AND SHOOTS PAM IN THE THROAT. Seriously! I was like, woah, I know Bones likes guns, but a) didn't Booth take her permit away after the last time she shot someone?b and b) she packs heat to *open mike night*? Anyway, of course then there's all the 'BOOTH BE OK!' stuff from Bones as Booth loses consciousness, but of course the most important thing is that this episode was half-singing, and culminated with Bones *shooting a woman in the throat*! WTF!

Gossip Girl 1x17: Woman on the Verge

2008-05-13T12:20:02Z

I don't know what is with me and Gossip Girl, but we aren't seeing eye to eye. I possibly liked this better than last week, but not as much as I hoped I would.

First off, Serena's "murder". I expected it would just be some sort of horrible accident, but I had hoped that if they're going to bring out the 'I KILLED A MAN' guns, then they could have at least had Serena do something mildly culpable! Like maybe not call 911, was what I was thinking. As it is, in an attempt to avoid unwanted sex, she urges a guy who is apparently a junkie that doesn't mind taking advantage of a wasted 17-year-old, to take another hit. He ODs! She calls the police, even when Georgina tells her not to, but still feels bad when he dies because she is Serena, who feels bad for everything - which is something we already knew about her. The audience isn't going to think less of her in the slightest bit. If Dan would think less of her it would only be because he is judgmental-Dan(which - hee on his dad calling him out on that). So, I don't know, I kind of felt like this whole plot was unnecessary. We already knew Serena always feels bad about everything, and that Blair will destroy the universe for Serena if necessary, and that Serena used to be wild, but is coming to terms with it. Didn't she already do all this? I didn't feel any emotional payoff for all this.

Poor Jenny is so grounded that she can't even go to her own dad's stupid revival concert. I know they probably just didn't have the actress booked for every episode, but it still made me laugh.

Dorota speaks! And she has an accent! Did she always have an accent, or is this really the first time she's ever spoken? I like Dorota.

Lily/Rufus...okay, I have never liked Lily/Rufus. I thought it was interesting as an idea, but almost every Lily/Rufus scene has just not done anything for me. I think Lily has become really unlikeable lately. I think Rufus is cute, but is boring with Lily. I thought the whole 'wedding-shopping' scene last week was just stupid. That said, I am apparently *exactly* the sort of idiot to be won over by the lead-singer-singing-the-song-to-the-girl-he-love shtick, even when it involves a couple I don't like. It wasn't good, it wasn't clever, it certainly wasn't subtle or organic, but it made me happy anyway. Sort of like how the line-dancing in She's All That made me happy. I'm detecting the same sort of feelings. Next I expect Rufus to stand with a boombox out in the rain outside of the Palace Hotel. I then expect to coo in spite of myself, because I am THAT LAME. (That said - poor Bart Bass, who is actually trying to be a good guy. And poor Chuck, who has the chance at a mother figure, even if it's as sucky a mother as Lily - sorry, I know people love her, but I just think she's the worst parent ever).

OK, I loved seeing the forces of Blair-Nate-Chuck in action, but it all seemed off to me somehow. On the one hand, I loved the little jokes about 'I slept with *him* in a limo!', but wouldn't that stuff still be too raw for them? If not, why are they not speaking? Or is it their love for Serena shining through? Oh, and the call-back of 'I'm Chuck Bass' made me giggle. The other thing is that they were all just really intense. I get that 'Serena killed someone' is serious shit, but even when they just thought that Serena was wasted it was all hyper-serious-Serena-care. I mean, look, I went to college. I cared for my share of drunks. Well, possibly less than my fair share because really, I don't have much patience for people who get plastered time and again; once you know your limit, stick to it, and if you feel the need to get shitfaced, then you can sit in your own vomit all night; don't call me, because I have no sympathy. Er, possibly an overshare. Anyway, even when I *was* doing my share of caring for the drunk and high and stupid, it wasn't this super-intense dramatic thing. You hold their hair; they puke; you get them to drink water; you put them to bed. If they're really gross and messed up, then take them to the hospital. It's more annoying than it is drama-inducing, so the intense music is out of place. Plus, I mean, they've been doing this for Serena since she was, like, 14, why is it still such a big Event? But maybe that's just me.

Supernatural, Brothers & Sisters, Ugly Betty

2008-05-12T13:32:38Z

Well, I'm done with finals at long last, meaning I have a small window of free time I need to make the most of before work starts. Which means, because I'm a huge dork, that I've read Middlemarch, which is so much better than I thought it would be. I mean, I read Silas Marner in ninth grade, and hated it, but I'm finding myself liking a lot of the things I hated in ninth grade. But this is a TV-LJ so, on to TV! Multiple cuts for spoilers.

I really do love this show (although at a certain point I couldn't help thinking 'seriously, show, you need to stop having Sam and Dean torture/hunt down/kill demons that inhabit the bodies black men. Especially when the human winds up dying. It's getting creepy. Possibly I only notice it because I keep seeing stuff about it on the internet, but I'm still aware of it and - creepy'). I hope they keep Rufus around because I usually don't like the actors they have for third-string characters, and I *really* like him.

The whole undead-doctor thing was *seriously* creepy. And the death of the runner, with the heart monitor watch thing, was pretty well done, I thought. The part where Sam was strapped down and it looked like the doctor was going to cut his eyes out...I knew Dean would come and save him, but I was still totally freaked out.

Bela...I've always liked Bela, but I somehow didn't much care about her death. I don't know. Maybe it was because you could call the whole 'molested as a child!' thing several miles off, or because, even though I like her, I'm way more invested in other things on this show. Either way, she left with a resounding 'meh' on my part.

I don't have much to say except that I'm liking the way they're winding down Betty and Henry. It's not that one of them likes someone else better, it's just that life changes, and long distance *plus* baby is all too much. So, enter Gio!

Oh and for some reason I thought that Christina already knew the baby was Branford's. But still, the ultrasound on the big screen at Mode was hilarious. Also hilarious is Daniel sleeping with his therapist. Oh Daniel, I love you and your many, many issues.

OK seriously, not only are they going to the icky Rebecca/Justin place, but they're doing it in a totally weird way. In the space of one episode (or five minutes for Tommy) it goes from 'omg Justin that is *sick*' to 'not really related, so...meh'. It's all just swept away too quickly for my tastes. And then there's this whole Ryan thing, which just...come on, are they going to find a new R-Walker every season? Until they run out of R-names? So ridiculous.

That said, I totally love Scotty and Kevin. And the Walker-boys roadtrip was a lot of fun too. They have really fun chemistry, I think.

And the Gossip Girl recap is *thirty-six pages* long. What on earth can that guy have to say about the last episode for thirty-six pages?

Gossip Girl 1x16: All About My Brother

2008-05-06T01:40:06Z

I...didn't really love this episode. For one thing, the whole Eric-is-gay thing wasn't as interesting as I was hoping, I suppose. I mean, first off, the whole scene where Dan catches Asher kissing Eric was sort of lame to me. I mean, the way it was shot, there wasn't really enough for Dan to have definitively said he saw them making out, or that it was a guy (imo). I mean, Eric was completely hidden - he could've been a girl for all that Dan saw - and the way it was shot, hell, Asher could've been leaning down to talk to someone. It was all pretty odd. They couldn't have Eric put his arm around Asher's neck or something, to telegraph 'kissing! boy! don't know who!' a bit better? And then the mom's reaction...my first reaction was 'why would she believe Georgina?' (and also, how did Georgina know? did she know?), but I suppose if she'd been thinking it, she would be particularly susceptible. I don't know what reaction I was looking for, but it fell flat to me for some reason. Maybe I'll like it better on rewatch.

Secondly, oh Rufus, I know that you're at your wits end with Jenny, but why on earth would you go to Lily for parenting advice? One of her kids was the biggest train wreck in the UES, and the other tried to kill himself. I'm just going to choose to believe that Rufus was really trying to sneakily get back together.

Oh, and why is Nelly Yuki the new Kati? That's just ridiculous. Is she somehow so stupid that she doesn't realize that Blair was trying to screw her over? Is there a quota of one Asian in the Blair entourage? What the heck.

Also, there is no reason Georgina should be able to cause this much drama. Serena can just pull Dan aside and say 'look, I know her, she's making trouble'. I'm sure she'll have pictures or something lying around to prove it. But I guess she's afraid that if she does that, Georgina will show Dan the tape. *sigh* I suppose it makes sense, kind of, but I was very frustrated the whole time, all the same. Plus! I don't know what was up on the tape, but my guess is that it was an accidental death sort of thing, not 'Serena takes a shotgun to someone's head', in which case Georgina would be just as liable, meaning it would be crazy stupid for her to show that to anyone. Serena had her on that last week! Where did that go? Come on, Serena. That said, the Serena-Blair scene at the end was very good.

What I did like (aside from the Serena-Blair scene at the end) - Asher is totally evil! Like, cartoon villain levels of evil! I suppose not quite cartoon, he did have motivation, and for Eric to have liked him he must not have been completely vile. But when he was talking to Jenny it was absolutely cartoon villain stuff, down to the 'now-I'm-evil' voice. And I enjoyed the downfall of Jenny. I always thought I'd be a bit sad when it inevitably happened, but after her ridiculous 'aw, how cute, you like me! But it's not unexpected! Buh-bye! *cheek kiss*' brushoff to Eric I just sort of laughed to myself, thinking she will totally deserve what's coming to her. And I also enjoyed that little moment of empathy Blair had (very little) when Jenny came to surrender. Oh! And I love that Eric called Chuck! I am totally going to take this to mean that Eric came out to Chuck first, but since he was cool about it, it wasn't drama-worthy enough. The show needs more Eric and Chuck!

Brothers and Sisters, and non-TV stuff

2008-05-05T20:37:45Z

So, you can listen to the new New Kids on the Block single here:
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20197878,00.html?xid=rss-topheadlines
My first thought is, look at that picture, you guys are too old to be singing about a romance with a girl who has a 10:00 phone curfew without it being *super creepy*. I mean, I'm all for resurgent boybands, I find it hilarious and fun, but come on guys.

Speaking of creepy things, a seal attempted to have sex with a penguin (what? Is this a sign of the apocalypse?):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7379554.stm

Oh, and to involve TV:

OK so the Rebecca and Justin storyline is terrible. Like, painfully terrible. And when Justin got all righteous and angry and 'I thought you were *different*' about Rebecca hiding her paternity for *one week*, under extremely understandable circumstances (imo) after he'd just dropped the freaking incest bomb on her, I literally laughed. I mean, come on, that reaction was just so stupid!

I hate ever seeing Sarah sad because she is my hands-down favorite, so the whole Holly-takeover thing made me unhappy, but not for storytelling reasons. It's just because I want Sarah to, like, go off into the sunset with that guy she was into first season, and her children and a fulfilling job and millions of dollars. Granted, this would not make very good TV.

However! All the crap that was running around this ep all disappeared with Kevin and Scotty! Getting married! Aw! Yay! I will admit, my first thought was 'how could Kevin choose Scotty over hot!Jason? Hot!Jason is, well, *hot*'. But I have come to terms, and I love them. Aw. It saved the entire episode - thus is the power of Kevin and Scotty.

not dead

2008-05-01T19:00:32Z

So I haven't posted in approximately forever -sorry about that. I'm in law school, and sometimes it pretty much eats me alive; this past semester has been really hectic. I've probably been de-friended for inactivity by everyone, and I wouldn't blame them in the slightest! But, well, the return of Gossip Girl has woken me from the dead (that and my desire to not study for exams), and I've felt the sudden urge to talk about it.

I think I didn't want to post about Gossip Girl back in the day because that pool party episode was just so ridiculous I couldn't say anything. However, The Thin Line Between Chuck And Nate was really fun - I enjoyed the re-shifting of emphasis to the friendship between Blair and Serena, especially when compared to the flame-out of Nate and Chuck. I thought Chuck's whole 'Arabian stallion' speech was pretty lame, but I've always felt that the whole 'rode hard, put away wet' thing was more cheesy and gross than clever. I get that Blair would feel devestated because of her fragile state of mind, but when he gave the schpiel onscreen I couldn't help but laugh at him.

But to be more up-to-date! I am *loving* the Bass-Van der Woodsen blended family. I love Chuck and Eric's interaction. And, since I'm spoiled, I know that Eric is gay - that saddened my hopes for Eric/Jenny, but I'm over it - and in my little imagination of what the show is, Eric *wants* to tell Serena, but she's too busy with Dan-Georgina angst, so he winds up coming out to Chuck, who is all 'aha! Great opportunity to be supportive and sleazy at the same time! Wonderful!' and takes him to some raunchy gay bar that is completely inappropriate. And Serena flips out, and it is wonderful. In my head. And even if it doesn't go that way, I am still enjoying the show.

I think that the Georgina and Serena storyline was amusing enough, although Dan is a huge idiot if he falls for whatever nonsense Georgina's cooking up. I appreciate the attempts to make Serena more interesting! Of course, after all this build-up, I really don't think they're going to be able to pull off Serena's Big Secret with any sort of proper emotional payoff unless Serena and Georgina secretly killed someone. Which would be pretty shark-jumping all on its own. But whatever, I'm just enjoying the ride.

I enjoyed the SAT-stress because most teen shows just kind of gloss over it (I remember on the OC it was like 'oh remember when I took the SAT awhile ago? And we didn't show it? Here's my score!'), and if I'm remember from high school, the SAT was *serious* amounts of panic. I mean, my parents had me in prep courses when I was a freshman. That is how I learned how to play Tetris on my graphing calculator. Oh stupid memories. Anyway, the spazziness held true to me, as did the characterization of Dan as a smart kid but a total choker. Although I did kind of want to remind them that you can take the SAT as many times as you want. I mean, Nate figured that out, why can't the rest of them? Unless they've changed the rules since then? That's entirely possible - the entire scoring is different, and now there's writing! When did I become old? And Blair vs Nelly Yuki...it was all a fairly stupid and mean exercise for Blair to go through, but I'm just fanwanking it in my head that Blair's not ok with herself unless she's scheming something. It's sort of like how when I'm stressed, I eat chocolate. When Blair's stressed, she either binges (bad!) or tries to ruin someone's life (bad, but not for her in the short term, so - progress!). And with her continuous inability to destroy Jenny, I figure she needs to destroy something just to get her mojo working again. And she needs to get herself match ready if she's going to try and destroy Chuck, which I'm hoping she'll do before they get together again (sort of like Mr Rochester's house burning down, only with Jane setting the fire. And Bertha somehow getting out alive and living happily ever after), but I'm not at all secure in that actually happening.

Speaking of Jenny, I am kind of loving this girl. I mean, on the one hand, she's running on crazy hubris and must be destroyed. But on the other hand, I admire her moxy. And I was really impressed with her acting in that scene where Rufus is trying to get her out of the stolen dress. Anyway, I very much enjoy the Jenny vs Blair stuff. And poor dog-walker boy doesn't know what he's gotten himself into. Much like Rufus, who is kind of an idiot - actually, I like to imagine that dog-walker boy is just as evil as Jenny, and is playing Rufus like mad. 'I wish all my friends parents cared enough to punish them when they screwed up' indeed.

I actually feel like I like Nate/Vanessa (Nate is acting like a *person*. A person I would enjoy being around! So shocking!), but I wish they'd given it a bit more time to develop. I mean, they went from 'never spoken' to 'dating' in one episode. One episode as the *C plot*. I felt like all the awesome moments happened off-screen - when did Nate figure out that she secretly wants to take the SAT and go to college? Which, by the way, I'm glad to hear - when she said she was taking all the practice exams to help Dan I wanted to throw things at her and scream 'Vanessa, *get a life*!!'. So, I am all in favor of Vanessa and Nate getting a life together.

Gossip Girl - Hi Society

2007-12-06T04:36:28Z

Man, I love this show. I think I was watching with bated breath the whole time. First off, I'm not really into fashion, but wow were the dresses gorgeous, especially Blair's. When she and Chuck started dancing they just looked gorgeous together. I also think it's interesting that they went for a sort of silver theme for Blair (and Nate, and maybe a little bit Chuck? I don't even remember, honestly), and a gold theme for Serena and Dan, since Serena is all about warmth (like the sun) and Blair is into the whole icy perfection thing. And I kind of can't believe I went to the fashion-analysis place, I think I've been studying too much, so I will move on to the squeeing over cute guys, which is much more my style.

Chuck! Oh, poor Chuck. We all kind of knew it was coming, but it hurt anyway. He feels real emotions, but the only way he knows to go about dealing with them is by conniving and manipulating. So I can't really blame Blair for thinking that Chuck was playing her for fun - I mean, she knows his reputation, and I don't imagine that one speech about butterflies is going to undo Blair Waldorf's many walls (for all that it totally won me over). And I also think we've got some more of Blair's not approving of the whole Chuck/Blair thing. And now Chuck has feelings, and he has to deal with them, and his super-great plan backfired, and so he runs away, which - he better come back, show! Really, really soon! Chuck-less weeks are like a wasteland for me, I'm telling you. Well, not as much a wasteland as a no-Gossip-Girl-at-all week (weeks?) with that silly beauty pageant show. Also, I've never really found the guy who plays Chuck all that attractive (Ed something? Westwick?), but this episode he really got to me.

Nate...is pissing me off. I can't hate on him *too* hard considering what's going on with his family, but this is a really shitty way to treat Blair. When she wants him, he doesn't want her. When she's over him, all of a sudden he wants her back. It's like the moment she's reached some sort of equilibrium (as precarious as it is), he has to barge in all 'how can I ruin Blair's life this week?' And she will always take him back because she's sort of a stupid little girl when it comes to Nate (and I mean that with all the affection possible, I really love Blair, just... flashback-Nate and Blair are great, and I almost feel like maybe she thinks if she gets back with Nate, regardless of whether they're really working any more, that she'll get that happy time back, and the sooner she realizes that's not the case, the sooner she can be happy again). So Nate, unless you are fully prepared to deal with all the baggage that comes with Blair, and not just dump her the second she gets complicated again, then you need to just stay away.

Actually, I thought the whole double-talk thing going on this ep was great. There was this one part where Nate is asking Chuck to find out who Blair is seeing, and he goes "me," and for a second (maybe it was the intonation), I thought he was saying it like "me, Blair's seeing me," but then Nate is all "yeah, who better to find out than you?". I don't know if that was intentional or me being dense, but I loved it either way. And then Serena's grandma lying about dying...or rather, double-lying...that was just weird.

Humphreys...this is kind of Allison's worst week ever. Her daughter leaves her for Lilly, her son leaves her for Lilly Jr, her husband *wants* to leave her for Lilly...jeez, the woman can't catch a break. As for Rufus, I know Lilly's cool and all, but you can't just turn around and start calling her with all the romantic what-could-have-beens right after you choose your wife and family. Not cool, Rufus. Possibly the same level of not-cool as Nate deciding that all of a sudden he wants Blair back right after he stomps her heart to bits.

That said, Gossip Girl continues to own my soul. Chuck better come back soon.

ETA: Also - The Pierces! I never recognize music on TV because I'm just not that hip, but I actually like them!

Chuck pic

2007-11-27T23:49:37Z

I'm sure that people have seen all the pics before, but this one made me laugh. He looks all sulky and a little bit adorable. I think it's the pockets.

Heroes and Chuck

2007-11-27T03:39:24Z

I'm actually sad that Alejandro's dead. Not weeping-in-a-corner sad, but I was hoping he'd make it. Maya is obnoxious - although a part of that comes from being so naive, I think. I mean, Sylar is so creepy! You don't just go 'oh, but he's named Gabriel, that's like angels, I was a nun for awhile, so he must be from God, and also - hot! I will follow him to the ends of the earth and totally ditch my brother'. That naivete might be partially Alejandro's fault - I mean, they're orphans and if she still has that much innocence than he must have been sheltering her like mad. But still, Alejandro was definitely the more interesting twin. I'm sad he's gone (but if Maya lives when Alejandro doesn't, that'll be annoying). And - did he speak English or not? Between reading the newspaper article in English, and telling Sylar that he won't let him (Sylar) take Maya in English, I thought Alejandro had been faking not understanding it. But, Sylar confessed his whole evil plan in English, and if Alejandro had understood, then he would have told Maya, right? So...what, he speaks English when it is dramatic for him to do so? Whatever, show.

Speaking of Sylar, he was the gratuitous-shirtless shot of the day! Shirtless + wet + in a towel. I mean, sure, it fits into his evil plan since he can overwhelm Maya with his hotness, making her even stupider (if that's possible), but come on. Save that for Mohinder, Sylar. Which - I'm kind of bummed they weren't in an actual scene together, just over the phone. What I did like was how Sylar's actions are so menacing, but seem utterly innocuous and even sweet from the point of view of someone who doesn't know better (Maya). And the kind of helpless terror in Mohinder's voice when he realized Sylar was with Molly was kind of awesome - kudos to the actor on that one. Oh, but what is Sylar going to do when Mohinder shows up? Even Maya's going to figure out something's not right when Mohinder is saying Sylar is evil. Maybe at that point Sylar is figuring he'll be close enough to his powers for it not to matter.

Monica was back! Yay! I liked that they did follow up on the Maya-as-vigilante superhero a little bit at least, even if she did get all caught. But it makes sense, really - just because she can do anything she sees doesn't mean she turns into a fantastic fighter. I mean, she wouldn't be able to improvise necessarily, right? And she must have been terrified. But as Micah was running off I thought 'ooh, he's gonna go get his mom and *then* they'll be sorry,' because Nicki could kick all of those kids asses without thinking about it. I kind of can't wait.

Adam Munroe continues to be awesome, although Peter needs to shape up or he's going to be giving Maya a run for her money in the stupid-stakes. I mean, everyone he's met, including Hiro who he knows is a good guy, has told him that Adam is evil. And please note, Peter, that Adam never denied being a big old murderer, he just keeps saying that he's going to save the world (which couples with the requisite 'humanity has destroyed the planet!' monologue). And can't he read minds? Does he trust Adam so implicitly, in spite of the fact that everyone thinks he's evil, that he never even feels a compunction to look and see what's going on in there?

Claire bores me. I like HRG, but Claire, not so much. West bores me even more than Claire, and I hope he dies next week. The one thing I really liked in their storyline was that Claire's mom stepped into her husband's shoes, and had the strength to be the one facing down the Company boss guy, and keeping her family together. Claire's plan of protecting her family by...telling everyone in the world about her powers is kind of stupid. I mean, isn't this what her father has been telling her NOT to do for the past season and a half? VMars's character was all right - I felt a little big bad for her when her dad was giving her crap about being a failure, and intrigued that he called her out for letting her guard down, not for shooting Claire and West. I thought that her travails with her gunshot wound were pretty funny. I really hope she doesn't die.

Chuck cracked me up today, but at the end I was just internally screaming 'noooo don't let Bryce goooo!' I love Bryce! There's so much that still needs to be resolved, he needs to come back! I mean, he never did anything to reconcile protecting Chuck from the spy game in college and then throwing him into it at the beginning of the series. Couldn't he have at least said that he knew Chuck was smart enough to become the intersect or something? I mean, after Chuck scored off the charts in the whole image recognition thing at Stanford, and Bryce knew about it, I was sure that was part of the reason. And how can Bryce not realize that he totally ruined Chuck's life by getting him kicked out of Stanford? He really needed Morgan to tell him that? Be that as it may, I still loved his antagonistic interaction with Casey, didn't mind the sparks with Sarah, was interested in his relationship with Chuck (they have nerd jokes! And that grin when he got Chuck in the elevator and was like 'hey man, you knew I was joking about that killing you thing, right?' really endeared him to me, although I suppose it might not have been meant to), and also find him really, really good looking (I am aware that I am completely shallow). Come on, show, he's too interesting not to stick around! Reconcile his being an idiot about Chuck, and also his affection for Chuck! Have him shoot things more!

Morgan and Ana kind of gross me out. Ana, you are too good for Morgan. How do I know this? Because every woman is too good for Morgan. For all that he is a great friend to Chuck, he *broke up with you on the loudspeaker*, Ana. Just because Chuck broke up with his girlfriend, and Morgan wants to be exactly like Chuck, he totally humiliated you in front of all your co-workers and a bunch of strangers too. You are cooler than this, Ana. Please be cooler than this.

Robin Hood 2x08

2007-11-25T04:19:32Z

Robin/Marian:First off, I like Robin, but he is a complete ass this episode w/r/t Marian. I mean, wtf, *tying her up* during battle? If your goal is to protect her, that is entirely counter to it; you've made her more vulnerable than ever. I mean, I get that she charged in without thinking and that was bad, but now you're in it, it's helpful to everyone if you've got Marian fighting, not tied up somewhere. I mean, she seemed like she was holding her own okay before they got there, it's not like she's a liability. I don't think he properly recognized/apologized for that in their reconciliation scene. And also, this whole time he's been desperate for her to come to the forest, and right away he's trying to think of ways to get her back in the castle again. *smacks head on wall* WTF, Robin, honestly, make up your mind.

Robin/Much (Or Robin & Much, if you like)

Poor Much is so neglected, all 'you never hug me like that' ,'we never talk any more' , etc., jealous of Marian, Carter, just about
everyone. But dude, Robin, you totally never do listen to him, and you let all your friends throw food at him, and are just an all-around
awful boyfriend (or even just plain friend if you take the slash goggles off - everything I think about their relationship works just as well with friendship as it does with slash). And maybe Much wants to talk to, you know, work through all the awful shit you saw at war? Maybe? Much needs a better boyfriend like Robin needs a shave (which is to say, quite badly indeed). Also, the Much-is-jealous-of-someone's

-relationship-with-Robin storyline has been done to death, show. Can we please have Robin be jealous of someone's relationship with Much? Please? Or something else that shows Robin doesn't take Much for granted when Much isn't making puppy eyes and begging for validation? Poor Much, he definitely needs more respect.

Guy

Speaking of bad boyfriends, there's yet more of the creepy, abusive Sheriff-Guy relationship. With all the 'why don't you
ever kiss my ring?' and 'let me kiss you in Marian's place' jokes. My skin is still kind of crawling. Guy, you need to leave for a battered
sidekick's shelter, like, now. Yesterday if possible.

Poor Guy is such a freaking patsy for Marian. Especially that whole 'this wasn't a mistake! This was the most perfect thing that has ever
happened!' line after they kissed. I felt so bad for him. Even the really sweet Robin-and-Marian-holding-hands scene couldn't outdo Guy and Marian this time around. See, after this ep, I'm rooting for Guy/Marian. I think the show might intend to go that way too; I mean, last season ended with Marian riding off with Robin. It's kind of symmetry if this season ended with her running off with Guy.

Allen (Allan? I have no idea which it is):

Allen was my absolute favorite this episode, and he...assaulted a nun. ~_~ When he originally said he was good with nuns I was really,
really hoping he would seduce one because Allen having a nun girlfriend would crack me up so much. Allen's expression when Guy was
pacing and fuming about needing to ride down to the convent and find Marian *right now* was so awesome. He was like, 'oh crap, I forgot to
take into account how batshit insane Guy is when formulating my accosting-nuns-plan!'

General:

Speaking of retarded plans - did it not occur to *anyone* that someone might want to stab Robin's corpse? Stick a pin in it? Anything? And
did no one consider that the bad guy's might get suspicious that Robin's 'corpse' doesn't have a single scratch on it? I mean, poison
didn't seem to be Carter's weapon of choice in his intro, so how were they expecting to explain that, anyway? Oh, and when Carter had all
the gang tied up and was threatening to kill them...dude, unless you have a partner in crime, that sort of thing sn't gonna work. Robin's not going to just chill while you go up to kill his friends.

It's also worth noting that we are no inexplicably back to non-violent-Robin. This characterization is all over the place. Not that I still don't love the show, but it's absolute crack. Is there even any point in trying to remember a persons characterization from one ep to the next?

Little John was awesome this time. Robin needs to let John be leader of the outlaws until he gets his shit together again and stops disabling his own guys during a fight (sorry, still can't let that go). I love it when John is all sensitive-giant.

Will...didn't get to do much. Poor Will. Although he did look like an adorable sleepy bat in his little pall-bearer getup.

Supernatural 3x07 Fresh Blood

2007-11-17T00:01:09Z

Type your cut contents here.

I didn't enjoy it as much as other people might have, but I feel like that might have been because when I was watching I had a ton of other stuff on my mind. So I'll just think about the good, and figure that will make me feel a little better. The brotherly interaction was fantastic. I know a lot of people have been missing it this season (and truthfully, so have I, a bit at least), and this paid off with dividends. Sam's line 'I wish you would drop the show and be my brother again, 'cuz...just 'cuz' absolutely killed me dead. And the scene where Dean was teaching Sam to fix the Impala was a fantastic ending. It really underscored how Dean's not just Sam's big brother; he raised him, he's like his father. In spite of all the reckless behavior Dean's been engaged in throughout the season, teaching Sam about the car seemed like the one that showed Dean making peace with what will happen to him the most. It was sort of like passing the torch. <3

Oh, and Sam wrenching Gordan's head off with barbed wire? All kinds of (gruesome) awesome. As I was watching it I couldn't help thinking 'holy shit, is the show really going there?' Although throughout I kept worrying that Sam would turn into a vampire. I mean, blood was spurting everywhere, and Sam was already a little cut up from the fight. None of Gordan's blood got on Sam's cuts? I mean, the boys didn't even consider it. But I don't really want to deal with vampiric-Sammy so, I'm fine. And I'll fanwank it that Sam has Antichrist immunity if need be~_~

Vampires on this show continue to confuse me. I mean, last season Lenore showed us that vampires can fight their instinct and choose not to kill. So, Sam and Dean really didn't have to kill the Harmony-vampire at the beginning, did they? I mean, in a situation like that, why wouldn't they call Lenore and see if she can't be rehabilitated in some way? Of course, that's playing into the whole the-boys-are-one-step-away-from-serial-killers thing, which is kind of interesting in and of itself. As for evil-Gordan, I was interested that he seemed to know who he still was, and to have control, or at least awareness, of his actions. He didn't seem to have guilt. Now, I wouldn't expect him to feel bad for killing the newly-turned-vampire-girls, but the truck driver? His friend the Jesus-freak hunter? Did he really stop feeling guilt, or was it just overwhelmed by his hunger and need to Get Sam? He still seemed pretty adamant that he was going to kill himself after he killed Sam, although I feel pretty sure that if he had killed Sam it would've been one thing and then another, and he'd never have really killed himself. The show has a tendency to throw us these things about the shades of gray in the 'evil' people - vampires, the demon that Dean spoke to earlier this season - but never really develop them. Or maybe it's still coming, and they're going slow.

I still like Bella, even though pretty much everyone I know thinks I'm crazy. I thought she was pretty interesting that she totally sold the boys out, and was then like 'wait a minute...they're really upset? Seriously?' Sometimes I wonder just what goes on in her crazy-head.

Any my 'concentrate on the good' exercise has worked, and I feel pretty happy about SPN right now. Oh boys.

Gossip Girl 1x08

2007-11-15T03:04:45Z

Gossip Girl 1x08

Blair:
Blair's church-outfit cracks me up. You can tell that she just sees her life as a movie. "Succumbed to inebriation, performed in a speakeasy, and surrendered my virtue to a self-absorbed pig." This girl cracks me up. I wonder why she is so insistent that she needs to be with Nate. So far in the series he's cheated, ignored her, and pretty much existed in a pot-haze. The boy's cute but not *that* cute. Also, it's pretty sad that she actually does know how to be a good girlfriend - she loves him, and worries about him, knows that it's important to communicate - but when it gets to the relationship itself, she's so consumed by the rules of what she should do - make him chase her, plan the whole masqued ball - that they *don't* communicate. And she has such faith in him, and is so utterly desperate for him to love her that it kind of breaks my heart. The look on her face when she asked Chuck if he liked her was (in my mind) a mix of shocked and kind of excited/amazed. I mean, at the base I feel like she just wants people to like her, even if it's not the guy she had initially hoped for.

Chuck/Blair:
I love how Chuck and Blair are absolutely on the same wavelength. Blair can cut through Chuck's bullshit to realize that he likes her because she knows how he operates. But she can't realize that Nate is acting so unbelievably fishy (or at least she doesn't want to admit it). How much do I adore her wrenching Chuck's head down by the hair while greeting her guests at the party? It cracked me up. And their little exchange, 'you forget who you're talking to'/ 'no, you forget who *you're* talking to!' (or something like that) And don't even get me started on the butterflies in Chuck's stomach. I love that they have two levels to them - they can keep pace with each other's bickering and conniving, and then be sweet too. Of course, a part of me (the part that's distrustful of Chuck) is worried that Chuck is playing her - 'bad cop' telling her that Nate is using her, 'good cop' giving her the necklace and acting sweet. But I like to think that Blair's got enough walls and levels of fucked-up-ness that she's aware of the possibility, and is just choosing not to go there because she's hurt and wants to be comforted and feel loved. I am really way too fond of Blair's character. Also, the look on Chuck's face when Blair walks off in tears didn't look calculating for once (although it might be my own wishful thinking). And when he kissed her shoulder! *dies*

Nate and Chuck:
That clip in the hotel room cracked me up. I'm also pretty amused about how Chuck manipulates Nate. "Don't cave to your parents wishes if they're not your desires." Oh god, he and Blair are made for each other, what with their mutual penchant for overblown statements. But I like how you can see Chuck torn between feeling for Nate, his best friend, and manipulating him so that he can make a play for Blair. And of course manipulation wins out ><. I was hoping that Chuck would explain that Blair doesn't deserve to be used by Nate this, but I guess Chuck's mind doesn't really run along those lines.

Nate's family:
OK, seriously, they *still* think that if the Nate/Blair arranged marriage goes through, then Blair's mom will let a fraudulent, embezzling, cokehead handle her company? I think the whole family must be on crack. Except for Nate, who is the only adult in the whole family, which is screwed up in and of itself.

In other news:
The Humphreys did stuff...Serena had a whole Guitar Hero montage that cracked me up, and Nate stomped all over my Eric/Jenny hopes.

five couples that make me geekishly happy

2007-11-14T22:27:43Z

So, my basic purpose here is to transfer my fannish ramblings from my personal LJ to someplace else, so I'm not constantly harassing my non-fannish friends, or worrying about friending fannish people because of all the silly real-life drama I go on about in my other LJ. Step one is to take the fannish stuff from there and put it over here. So here we go, the fruits of procrastination. As of a few weeks ago (which pre-dates a number of things, including Chuck/Blair), the top five actual TV couples that make me embarrassingly happy.

5 - Oz & Willow, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Yeah, so my favorites on that show were never Buffy and Angel (or Buffy and Spike). They were fine and all, but Willow and Oz! So adorable I *still* want to make high-pitched noises at the screen when I watch them. I mean, the first time Oz sees Willow (I think), she comes to a costume party all dressed up as a historically accurate Eskimo while everyone else knows that costume party = excuse to dress slutty, so she feels all awkward, and Oz thinks 'omg, who is the girl dressed as an Eskimo? Awesome! I must meet her!' I was desperate for them to actual get together from then on. And I have always felt slightly bad and non-PC because I never liked Tara, even at the end, because I kind of can't get over 'but she broke up Willow and Oz!!' And later on, when Willow would make these dramatic assertions like 'Tara was the only good thing in my life! The only person I ever loved! Etc!' I would mentally go 'um, excuse me, Oz? Remember him? Does no one remember how awesome he was!?' *glower*

4 - Henry & Betty, Ugly Betty
I think I might have a soft spot for nerd-love (no shit?). He's an accountant! She has adult braces! Clearly this is Meant To Be. Also, the line last week (er a couple of weeks ago now) where they are fighting and she snaps "so you followed me home??" and he replies "no, I followed you home because I didn't want you walking alone at night." At that point I think I actually said out loud "they need to get married and have a million babies."

3 - Ryan & Taylor, the last season of The OC
Honestly, I love them so much. From the minute Taylor nagged Ryan into pretending to be her boyfriend so she could divorce her French husband, I was cooing on the inside. They are screwed up, but just the right kind of screwed up for each other. I mean, they take turns stalking each other! She actually thinks he's funny! And where else do you get the exchange "Taylor, are you pretending to be asleep in the hopes that I'll tell you 'I love you' while you're unconscious?"/ "....Maybe."

2 -Logan & Veronica, the first season of Veronica Mars (after that it kind of goes to hell)
OK so I was rooting for Logan and Veronica, but never in a million years thought it would happen. Honestly, back when I started 'shippng them I thought Weevil and Veronica would be more likely to hook up (which I would have been perfectly happy with). And then, my favorite fanon-couple became reality! I actually clapped my hands when they kissed the first time. Yeah, I'm that much of a geek. After that season the Logan/Veronica stuff went downhill for me ('omg he slept with Madison!' is just a downer after there's been 'omg did he kill my best friend?'). However, even in the third season there were still some good moments. Logan smashing the cop car so he can get thrown in jail with the serial rapists that hurt Veronica. Or when he pretty much flung himself at the asshole making jackass comments even after Veronica told him that the guy had Mob connections and would destroy him. Again, they are just the right kind of screwed up for each other. Only, you know, they're pretty much a billion times less healthy than Ryan & Taylor ><

1 - Rory & Dean, the first two seasons of Gilmore Girls (ie, before the stupid adultery storyline).
I think I was never half so invested in a relationship on a TV show. I pretty much want to travel back and time and make Dean my high school boyfriend. He *built her a car*! He takes her to used book sales and carries her loot for her! He read Jane Austen to make her happy - and liked it! And I still get all goosebumpy when I watch the scene where they get back together at the end of the first season and make out in front of Chilton. Between this and Ryan/Taylor, you might call it 'insanely smart geek girls and the blue-collar boys who love them'. And then the show had to go and fuck it all up and make them adulturers, which is *awful* and made me want to throw things. But still, one of the reasons I wasn't upset that Rory and Logan broke up at the end of the series is because, in the back of my mind, I pretty much imagine that after Rory goes out and conquers the world, and Dean does something awesome in his own right, and they don't care about class or intimacy issues any more, then they'll find themselves in the exact right place in their lives to be with each other again. And I read every fic to that effect I can get my hands on.

So yeah, that was all pretty nerdy of me, but whatever. Happy thoughts!